Vitamin D Deficiency

Randomized trial of vitamin D supplementation to prevent seasonal influenza A in schoolchildren: Design: From December 2008 through March 2009, we conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial comparing vitamin D3 supplements (1200 IU/d) with placebo in schoolchildren. The primary outcome was the incidence of influenza A, diagnosed with influenza antigen testing with a nasopharyngeal swab specimen. Results: Influenza A occurred in 18 of 167 (10.8%) children in the vitamin D3 group compared with 31 of 167 (18.6%) children in the placebo group [relative risk (RR), 0.58; 95% CI…

I have mentioned before the current fad in vitamin D related papers in the medical literature. It's also broken into the pop culture Zeitgeist as well, I regularly get forwards on the topic. Here is a Google Trends chart for the United States: The history of medicine is, unfortunately, rather similar to the history of astrology. In fact for much of history doctors are likely to have increased, rather than decreased, mortality, thanks to an ignorance of germ theory and false paradigms such as Humorism. The demand-side pressures for cures & prevention seems to still exert a powerful push…

Low Vitamin D Causes Problems For Acutely Ill Patients: Dr Paul Lee, Professor John Eisman and Associate Professor Jackie Center, researchers at Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research, examined a cohort of 42 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients. Forty-five percent turned out to be Vitamin D deficient. ... When the team correlated the Vitamin D levels with a disease severity score, there was a direct correspondence between sickness and Vitamin D deficiency. In other words, the sicker someone was, the lower the levels of Vitamin D. Out of the 42 patients studied, there were 3 deaths. The…

Swine influenza, seasonality, and the northern hemisphere: This history demonstrates the seasonality of pandemic influenza, and suggesta that spread of A/California/09/2009 in the northern hemisphere is not imminent. Based on this regularity, the epidemic in Mexico should be over no later than the end of May. While it is not 'impossible to see the current contagion spreading in the northern hemisphere over the following months', it would be unprecedented.

On the order of ~1 million years ago humans seem to have evolved dark skin. While light skin evolved several times, it looks like dark skin exhibits an "consensus sequence," so that all dark skinned peoples seem to have the same genetic architecture. This chart (from Signatures of Positive Selection in Genes Associated with Human Skin Pigmentation as Revealed from Analyses of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms) shows that when it comes to skin color related genes the populations of Bougainville Island (off the eastern coast of Papua New Guinea) and Sub-Saharan Africa are far closer than you…

See FuturePundit & Effect Measure. Also see H5N1. CDC recommends (especially for residents of California & Texas): * Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it. * Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hands cleaners are also effective. * Try to avoid close contact with sick people. * If you get sick, CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them. * Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs…

Association Between Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Level and Upper Respiratory Tract Infection in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey: The median serum 25(OH)D level was 29 ng/mL...and 19%...of participants reported a recent URTI [recent respiratory tract infections]. Recent URTI was reported by 24% of participants with 25(OH)D levels less than 10 ng/mL, by 20% with levels of 10 to less than 30 ng/mL, and by 17% with levels of 30 ng/mL or more...Even after adjusting for demographic and clinical characteristics, lower 25(OH)D levels were independently associated with recent…